As a result of an increasing world awareness of the finite availability of petroleum-based fossil fuels, fuel consumption of automobiles, trucks and other vehicles which use such fuel has become an item of substantial concern. In the recent past, little thought was actually given to the fuel economy of the popular-sized automobiles in use in many countries of the world, particularly in the United States. Gasoline was available at relatively reasonable prices, and more interest was placed in the speed, power, and large size of automobiles than was given to the economy with which the automobiles operated.
With the realization that there is an energy crisis in the world, coupled with skyrocketing increases in the costs of gasoline and other fuels, individuals, manufacturers, and governments have been forced to carefully scrutinize the fuel consumption of the average automobile. In the United States, the government has issued regulations which require automobiles currently manufactured and those which are to be manufactured in the near future to perform with fuel economies well above the fuel consumption of the gas-guzzling automobile in its most wasteful years. In order to meet the government requirements, automobiles of smaller size and of lighter weight with smaller engines are being manufactured. Even so, the increasing price of gasoline and other petroleum fuels make ever increasing fuel economies for automobiles of all sizes a particularly desirable goal.
While possible new engine designs, and lighter weight materials and smaller automobiles may well produce high miles-per-gallon ratings for new automobiles to be produced in the near future, the older automobiles still on the road, and many of which most likely will be driven for many years, do not exhibit the fuel efficient characteristics of current new and future automobile production.
Therefore it is desirable to provide a system which can be incorporated into existing motor vehicles to improve their fuel economy and which also may be included in future production automobiles to extend even further the expected fuel economy which is being designed into those automobiles. Such a system should not impair the operation of the engine or accelerate its wear and ideally should be simple and relatively easy to install with a minimum of cost and effort.